LAHORE, May 30: The Punjab government has notified the Curriculum Research and Development Board employees working under the Punjab Textbook Board on a regular basis.

As many as 37 CRDC employees had been working with the PTB on deputation since the merger of the two organizations in October last.

The CRDC employees reportedly could not be merged with the PTB on a regular basis, as the PTB is an autonomous body while the CRDC was administered by the provincial government. Besides, no terms and conditions for their job after the completion of their deputation period were determined.

The function of the CRDC was to assist the curricula wing of the federal ministry of education and evaluate and revise syllabi for all the subjects from classes I to XII. It also conducted research in curricula and allied issues funded by the governments of Punjab and Pakistan and donor agencies.

In order to pool the resources available and expert input for producing quality textbooks for modern curricula and reducing the expenditure, the government had placed the CRDC and the PTB together within one organization.

The education department officials were of the view that the merger would help avoid overlapping of the functions of both the institutions as well as enhance the capability to formulate and monitor the syllabi within one institution. The merger of the CRDC and the PTB was finalized only in the Punjab in October. Every province, including the Azad Kashmir, has a CRDC supervised by a federal wing — the Inter Board Committee of Chairmen.

Some employees of the PTB curricula wing told this reporter that the merger would create seniority problems within the organization. However, they expressed satisfaction on the employees’ merger.

They said the organizations’ merger had deprived the Punjab of casting vote in the meetings of a federal wing for curricula which approves the curricula of all the provinces. They urged the authorities concerned to take necessary measures in this regard.

The officials also feared that the merger might eliminate the system of checks and balances on the curricula. They claimed that after becoming part of the PTB such functions were not being performed up to the mark.